Is China's Currency Increasingly Important?

China’s economic achievements laid solid foundations for RMB's international standing. By the end of 2022, China accounted for 18.6% of the global economy and 14.4% of world exports.However, there is a huge gap between the yuan’s growing prominence and its global use. RMB remains underutilized compared to the U.S. dollar. This book attempts to fill this gap from the view of the systemic importance of the RMB exchange rate, an angle that could be easily overlooked. We argue that pricing is too important to be relegated to an afterthought. The change of RMB exchange rate could have a systemic impact on the global financial system. Furthermore, we present substantial evidence that RMB is gaining importance globally and regionally as an anchor currency and safe-haven currency, indicating that RMB is becoming systemically important despite its relatively limited international use.
It is important to understand in depth that the force that has helped fuel China’s rapid economic growth over the past few decades has been globalization and that market reform and opening up are the pillars of RMB internationalization. Currently, the new trends of anti-globalization and de-financialization have emerged. The global monetary and financial system must be reframed according to the financial needs of socially sustainable activities to prevent systemic instability and system-wide economic/social catastrophes. Against this backdrop, further internationalization of RMB should serve the real sectors in high-quality economic development.